Abysmal minority hiring policies have cost Hollywood movie studios and TV networks billions of dollars in recent years.
That’s the bottom line from the “2016 Hollywood Diversity Report: Busine$$ As Usual?” compiled by the Bunche Center at UCLA and released Thursday. The news arrives just days before Sunday’s Academy Awards, the industry’s showcase event which has been the target of intense criticism and an “#OscarsSoWhite” Twitter campaign over the lack of diversity in this year’s Oscar nominations
Movies with diverse casts make significantly more money at the box office, and TV shows with lineups that reflect the general population of the U.S. get much higher ratings according to the report, which examined 163 theatrical films released in 2014, as well as 1,146 TV shows airing or streaming during the 2013-14 season.